Clapton Pond Blog

Ruff Sleeping

A reader writes:

is anyone else suffering from a lack of their usually nightly sleep because of the hounds kept as guard dogs at the car yard on Powell Road, E5 It is driving me insane I have even been considering the steak/sleeping pills interface. But the dogs are too cute. And I want to do things through the right channels.

Any advice?

Planting Hackney Wick

Oh look! A new local blog!

Hackney: Top For Parks

From Londra Gazete

"Hackney's Parks Service has achieved seven prestigious Green Flag awards and a Green Heritage award in this year's national awards for parks and green spaces. The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by the Civic Trust, is the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales. Of the 26 London boroughs given Green Flag Awards this year, only eight, including Hackney, have seven or more. This achievement is a significant improvement on last year when Hackney received four Green Flags, up from two in 2006."

Yippee!

Understatement Corner

Stoke Newington Kris is not a Nando's fan.

Clapton Park Estate

From last Saturday's Guardian:

"Five years ago, Clapton Park in Hackney, east London, was much like many other urban estates: not especially pretty, but then not particularly ugly either. Just another unremarkable collection of mainly low-rise blocks interspersed with 200 bits of largely uninspiring green 'space'; mostly mown grass with the odd tree and shrub here and there."

In case you missed it (like me).

Poop Scoop Promotion

This latest example of my famously inadequate photography shows - if you click on it and squint - a Safer Neighbourhoods Environmental Enforcement and Pollution Control exercise taking place yesterday on the Downs. This may sound terrifying, but at the heart of it was a poop scoop promotion. The park ranger is clutching a Fido Facts Pack - a bunch of information for dog-owning park users produced by the Council's Neighbourhoods and Regeneration directorate. Each contained a leaflet from the Dogs Trust called Being A Good Dog Owner, a pamphlet from Encams called Dog Fouling and The Law and a green, 100% biodegradable plastic bag for scooping your dog's poop into. Now, I'm not a dog owner so it could be argued that my accepting a Fido Fact Pack from the park ranger represents a waste of tax-payers' money. On the other hand, I've communicated information about its contents to a potential worldwide audience of millions. My conscience is clear. What a relief.

The Killer Crossing (Pt3)

We all know The Killer Crossing, the three-way death trap at the junction of Lower Clapton Road and Downs Road. Regular readers will also know that something substantial is eventually going to be done about it by Transport for London, and that the little bit that's been done about it so far isn't much use. You may - or may not - take comfort from this letter sent to a kind reader by the Council about progress towards the longer term solution:

Dear Mr von Ziegenweidt,

Thank you for your e-mail of March 1st regarding the Lower Clapton Road/Cricketfield Road junction. I have spoken with representatives from Transport for London (TfL) on this matter and have received confirmation that changes to the junction to incorporate pedestrian facilities are in the outline design stages.

Unfortunately designs have not been released to the borough for comment but the next step for TfL will be to consult with all stakeholders, including residents, on any proposal. I am therefore unable to confirm if the outline design has included cycle facilities such as advance stop lines (ASL's) however current TfL cycling documentation recommends ASL's at signal junctions and I have asked for assurances that cycling facilities are included in the final design.

Yours sincerely

Steve Walker
Traffic and Transportation Manager
Neighbourhoods and Regeneration
Tel: 020 8356 8157
steve.walker@hackney.gov.uk
www.hackney.gov.uk

Slowly but surely...?

Squatters At Chimes?

The word you can't see on the banner on the left is "social". Looks to me like the longer-defunct Chimes pub next to the now-defunct Palace Pavilion has some new inhabitants. [See map]

The Talk Of Clapton Terrace

It's going on here.

The Killer Crossing (Continued)

I recently posted about the "Killer Crossing" by the Pond at the junction of Lower Clapton Road and Downs Road. This followed a reader inquiring if it was ever to be improved. I knew there'd been talk of this for some time but no action. Cllr Rathbone brought me up to date. Deep breath...

Ian explained that he, Cllr Kelly and the Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group have been trying for two years to get Transport for London to make improvements. To cut a tortured story short, they finally got the bureaucrats' attention last April and duly issued a press release (reproduced below). Not much happened until Ian got our GLA member Jennette Arnold involved and a scheme was drawn up involving better crossing points and preventing traffic turning right out of Downs Road onto Lower Clapton. And then, as Ian puts it:

"They dropped the bombshell that nothing could be done until April 2009 financial year. I pressed them about taking some remedial action now. They said they would resurface the road and tidy up the kerbing and pavement in this financial year ie before next April. I have to ask – will they keep their promise this time?"

Well, work has been going on. The kerbing has been tidied up. But what good has it done? My previous post on this subject contained an approximation of a conversation between my wife Sheila and a workman improving a nearby pavement. They have since conversed some more.

Sheila: "How's it going then?"

Workman: "Total waste of time. We sorted out the kerb, but a bus has been over it already. Squashed it all out of place again."

Sheila: "Well, at least it's keeping you busy. It's sort of Keynesian."

Workman: "We've got another word for it."

Watch this space!